Tag Archives: boredom

According to the paper by Thiele I mentioned before, Heidegger saw existential anxiety as a state with the possible positive effect of making us think about fundamental ontological questions such as: why is there anything? What is my reason for being? What should I do with this existence?

When anxiety loses its potency, it gives way to boredom. We are no longer shocked and worried by our existential conundrum, but bored by it. Furthermore, this makes worldly activity seem pointless, too. For Thiele, this state of boredom is hidden in postmodern society, by technological innovation and the resulting culture of novelty. The main purpose of technology then becomes to alleviate boredom. Continue reading →

Today’s reading has taken me in a strange direction. I was thinking about culture stayers and culture seekers; people who spend their lives becoming more profoundly steeped in a culture they were born into, and those who turn away from their ‘native’ culture and explore another, or others. It seems to me that these are ‘types’ who in one sense are very different to each other, but often find themselves face to face, since it is culture stayers that the culture seekers seek out to learn from. They share a fascination with a particular culture, but, I would argue, from very different viewpoints. Continue reading →